Legion Baseball Begins Practice With Guidelines

American Legion Baseball teams finally got back to practicing for a 2020 season around Wyoming on Monday.

After receiving approval from Governor Mark Gordon and the State Health Department, programs can have nine-persons on a field for practice.

State Chairman Cody Beers told WyoPreps that anytime you can grab a glove, a ball, and a bat, and head to the ballpark, it’s a good day.

“I think that’s what we need right now. We need something that we’re excited about. We know we can function as a team, do it well, and be safe.”

Beers acknowledged the present situation and said they’re not forgetting about that at all.

“What we have done all along is maintain the idea that we’ll have a baseball season. Right now, we have some optimism.”

After meeting with American Legion representatives in the state, including the State Commander, and a couple of meetings with coaches from every program in the state, Beers provided the guidelines for teams to begin the first step of limited practicing. You can read the full course of action by clicking the link below.

The coaches are ready to roll and the kids are excited, according to Beers.

“They understand they have to be safe, and that’s my message right now to our programs, is that people are going to be watching what we’re doing because we’re the only game in town, so to speak. So we’re going to do it the right way. We’re going to be safe. We don’t want to have COVID-19 spread because of what we’re doing. We’re going to practice good social distancing.”

As Beers mentioned, it’s about getting out and knocking off some of the rust.

He’s hopeful that things advance where they might be able to play games sooner than later, but that depends on when the limit on social gatherings is raised by the Governor and health department to a level that allows teams, umpires, and a few other designated personnel to come together for a game.

The current order from the state, “prohibits gatherings of 10 or more persons,” which is why you have a nine-person limit to start with. If that order is lifted to 50-persons, then the potential for playing a game becomes more realistic.

Beers said an exact start date of the season is not known at present time, but he thinks there’s a ‘possibility’ of Memorial Day weekend.

“When we get into games it’s going to be a process, too. I mean, we’re going to be careful, we’re gonna keep our hands clean, we’re going to social distance as much as we can, and we’re going to play the game that we love.”

He believes that will give towns around the state something to hope for and look forward to, even though, spectators will probably not be allowed at venues when they start playing games.